Episode #616 - The Secret, Silent Poisoning (Nuclear Victims in Peace and War)
Unwelcome Guests
67 years after the fateful dropping of the bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, we hear how those are only two best known of many nuclear bombs dropped in the pacific by USA. We hear from Holly Barker, author of "From Nuclear Weapons to Nuclear Energy: The U.S., The Marshall Islands and Japan". She gives us a presentation entitled 'Secrecy and Silence in the Post-Tsunami Pacific', which tells the disturbing story of the Marshall Islanders, whose small numbers and remote location lead to their choice as targets for US military research into the effects of exposure to radiation on human health.
Then we hear a lightly edited short speech by Chris Busby, which continues into our second hour. He proposes to get the nuclear industry shut down by citing recent research findings about the dangers of nuclear radiation. Noting that the UK cancer registries keep epidemiological data secret from the public, Busby reports that his grassroots epidemiological research suggests that the risk model currently used underestimates the threats to human health by a factor of 400.
Then we hear an interview with M.T. Silvia, who produced the film 'Atomic Mom' about her mum, who carried out research on the health effects of radiation for the US Navy. The interview details her mum's job and how it affected her personally, as well as looking at the larger picture of how American culture embraced and celebrated all things nuclear.
We conclude with a few brief excerpts of an audio production of Thomas Merton's anti-poem Original Child Bomb on the events surrounding the dropping of nuclear weapons on Japan.
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